Questions/Answers

The UAE is pursuing an active role in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, primarily, artificial intelligence and smart cities. It is widely known that data has become one of the most important features of the digital era, and the focus on data in terms of understanding, analysis and employment has become one of the most important highlights in the transformation towards a digital/knowledge economy. There was a gap in number of government datasets on bayant.ae and individual’s knowledge of data analytics, also sharing solutions to challenges faced by government entities. The UAE Hackathon initiative reflects the efforts of TRA to disseminate the culture of digital transformation in the country and it aims to draw attention to the UAE national agenda, high value of data and the solutions inherent within it when dealing with daily challenges with regard to the economic, social, environmental and scientific aspects of life. The UAE Hackathon is implemented as a public event under the motto “Data for Happiness and Well-being” which aims to encourage attendees to develop innovative solutions and ideas that contribute to the UAE happiness index. These solutions and ideas will be derived from the data that exist within and among government entities. It provides opportunity to different sections of the community including university and high school students, entrepreneurs, employed people and IT experts to use open data as a tool for coming up with solutions based on specific themes and challenges listed for the hackathon. A dedicated platform was developed in order to guide participants through hackathon activities for registration, training sessions, presenting their ideas to judges, etc. Through 3 years we have successfully conducted 20 Hackathons with more than 3000 participants and gathered 273 innovative ideas from tackling government challenges.

The UAE Hackathon initiative is well aligned with Category 4-Institutional preparedness and response in times of crisis as in UAE Hackathon government entities are encouraged to be transparent in key areas, provide data sets, empower participants to use data, get feedback on the data, build their capabilities and evaluate the innovate solutions from participants which would give them an opportunity to be ready with creative innovative solutions for future crisis and challenges and would ensure increase individuals quality of life and happiness in the UAE, also implementing such ideas would enhance the smart lifestyle.

The initiative concretely pairs with the 2030 Agenda for SD targets and indicators under SDGs 4-Quality Education and 8-Decent Work and Economic Growth. The hackathon series have expanded a foundation that exists in the UAE for ongoing engagements among technologists, civil servants, and civil society to build workable solutions to shared problems this is associated with SDG 8.2.The ability of the government to be transparent in key areas and provide open data is key to making such engagements work as it provides enhanced open data systems for public use and reflects "the government’s intention to strengthen sustainable communities based on participation and transparency which is associated with SDG 8.3, 9.5 & 9.c. The participation is open for everyone in the" society which associated with SDG 8.6; and the capacity building training offered by experts in fields of technology, innovation management and entrepreneurship aim to provide participants with knowledge and fundamental skills so that everyone has a viable role to play in developing ideas and no one should feel intimidated and believe that they cannot contribute which is associated with SDG 4.4, 4.7. Many participants got internship opportunities and job offers from partnered companies which is associated with SDG 8.5.

The initiative is socially sustainable as participants from various profiles can work collaboratively on finding solutions for society happiness & wellbeing and best ideas are rewarded. Moreover, enhance competencies and disseminate knowledge and innovation "in the field of data analysis. Economically it encourages gov. entities to disclose their open-data sets and make it available for public use which increase transparency. Also, all hackathon" participants are encouraged to turn their innovative ideas into projects therefore mentorship program is implemented. Technology oriented activities so less paper usage required and organized in campuses participants can enroll to nearest location which saves fuel &energy

TRA provided the thought leadership, financial support, and substantive staff support to ensure the success of the Hackathons. A Governance framework including roles and responsibilities was developed involved all parties (TRA, National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing, FCSA, Governmental Entities, Universities, Incubation Centers, Private Sector). -TRA managed the seven Hackathons and provided all the logistics required for each location. -National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing provided full support and awarding ceremony at last by the minister for winners. -FCSA provided open data platform (bayanat.ae), guided "participants through open data portal and how to make best use of data. -Government Entities provided mentors and subject matter experts at the location to help participants understand the real problem" they face and guide them through solution creation. -Universities provided the full support from setting up hackathon location, providing mentors to guide participators and encourage students to participate. - Incubation Centers supported through giving entrepreneurship talk, judge proposed project and incubate innovated projects. -private sectors (training experts) provided training in areas such as blockchain technology, AI, data mapping, creating apps, etc, helping and mentoring participants. -The Hackathon website & system has been updated include features such as registrations, online submission, judge, mentorship in order to link between participants, mentors and judges.

The UAE is ranked as a leading country in gender equality, through a series of public and private sector initiatives, women are playing an increasingly stronger role in business, military and government. In the UAE hackathon, we are keen to support innovation and provide all needed resources and support to enable women" contribution in innovation process and eco-system in the UAE, that is why we are organizing the UAE Hackathon in one month physically in the 7different emirates to give easy access to these activities and events by avoiding traveling or accommodation obstacles especial for women and girls

The UAE Hackathon target groups includes youth and adults adequate for capacity building training given at the hackathon platform to increase the usage of open data to develop new innovative solutions. Likely audiences are: - Civil servants to develop core literacy to engage with technologists and to turn information into useful open data sets - Journalists to build out primary data analysis and data visualization skills to improve reporting and share stories of what "the government and others are doing and share with project managers what products and issues organizations and individuals would like to have addressed." - Researchers and students to share their expertise and build up the capacity for the next generation of workers. - Subject matter experts looking to increase their technical skills. The overwhelming feedback from UAE Hackathon 2018 participants was positive, the emergence of the open data ecosystem was highly successful and well received. There were abundant outcomes from training as more than 1200 participants to creating 229 open data projects. Through 3 years we have successfully conducted 20 Hackathons with more than 3000 participants and gathered 273 innovative ideas from tackling government challenges.

In preparing for the UAE hackathon, the TRA took six months of work to strengthen the existing datasets and add additional datasets to the open data portal. The TRA coordinated with local meetups and other IT-related communities to reach out to their respective members to obtain support for the hackathons and liaised with the universities on logistics issues. The organization team developed a marketing strategy for the hackathons, and applied that strategy before, during and after each of the hackathons. The themes for the hackathon were identified as those for which data would be available, and that would help to improve happiness. They represent a range of important aspects of life in the UAE. Some themes were quantitative and actionable and tangible, like reducing traffic congestion and improving health outcomes. Others represent qualitative issues such as lifestyle and social relations like mentorship to raise confidence. The breadth of themes allowed for a wide variety of topics for the hackathon, but also provided some challenges for areas where data was hard to find or was insufficient. Although all hackathons applied similar rules and occurred at a leading university, each event had some aspect that was unique to the hosting emirate. Each hackathon was a 3 day event with the first day dedicated to building capacities and providing professional expertise. The second day focused on hacking and developing solutions, and the third day focused on finalizing the teams’ solutions and presenting their solutions to the judges. All the 66 selected teams, finalists, and winners were invited to celebrate their achievements and awarded on March 4 in Zayed University, under the patronage of HE Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing. The celebration came one day after the global marking of the Open Data Day; 3rd of March.

-Hackathon concept as for all participants it was the first time for them to experience such exercise but with the help of mentors it was managed and the final feedback from participants was more hackathons. -Less number of open data sets on open data portal but the cooperation between TRA & FCSA teams more data sets were gathered from Gov. entities and made available online for participants. -Manage participants crowd over the 3 days through assigned mentors and volunteers from Hackathon organizers to guide, manage, help, etc. -Specialized training programs which were provided in cooperation with expert companies (IBM, oracle, etc)

The UAE Hackathon is consider as one of the innovate projects of the TRA which organized in the UAE innovation month (February); it will contribute to the achievement of the national agenda of the UAE 2021 and UAE 2071 by developing a cadre of digital savvy young men and women. It will enhance the competencies and distribute knowledge and innovation in open government data to a greater section of society. One of the objectives of Hackathons is to spread the culture of collaboration and fostering partnerships. Government entities have a vital role to play in the nurturing of young men's and women's thirst for knowledge and innovation by providing a data-oriented environment to support all sectors of the economy. This will allow for more opportunities for young men and women to become entrepreneurs and create employment opportunities through the creation of start-ups.

success stories that have been seen throughout the world indicates that the more open-data the public, the greater level of innovation and creative thinking takes place. Hackathons can create the right environment where the use of AI& open data can lead to global innovation. Universities can also play a leading role in implementing the AI strategy and its deliverables by providing conducive environments for students to step-outside their comfort zones and think creatively. By providing tools necessary to succeed, students will be-exposed to cutting-edge technology that can create opportunities-for the next big-thing that will disrupt the economic environment we have today.

One of the main objectives of the UAE Hackathon is to spread the innovation culture, make citizens aware with the new era of the technology specifically in the data industry, and generate a real innovative ideas and the solutions for the challenges. In the first two versions, about 3183 participants the UAE Hackathon in 414 teams developed more than 400 idea by using 1412 datasets. As a result of this, there were 161 innovative ideas which are got interest from different organizations

Yes, UAE Hackathon launched its first version in 2018. Till now, UAE Hackathon made three versions of the activity to continue in spreading the awareness of the innovation culture, make citizens aware with the data industry, and providing innovative solutions for the challenges. TRA Encourages the different governmental organizations to have their own hackathon that will serve its goals, and also encourage universities and schools to have their own hackathons to be trained in how to deal with open data and gain problem solving skills. If UAE hackathon goes to be replicated in different entities, that will participate in achieving the main goals of the wise leadership of the UAE wants about putting UAE an active role in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, primarily, artificial intelligence and smart city. The UAE Hackathon team received number of requests from government and private companies to share the hackathon running knowledge with them, number of Hackathons were launched with UAE Hackathon team support such Youth Hackathon to fight corruption” has launched from 24-26 November 2019 in Zayed University- Dubai, also, the Virtual Ideathon Volunteering to Build Resilience; where as, many other entities preferred to join the UAE Hackathon journey in Feb.

The UAE Hackathon was designed in first place to promote the hackathon activities in the country at the largest regional activity of its kind. TRA has instructed the UAE Hackathon organizer team to provide full support to all entities and share the experience, knowledge of (how, what, when) with all. Full report on hackathon activities was prepared and shared with government entities and hackathon partners. Finalist innovation projects were shared also as a successful achievement of the 1st running hackathon. A dedication website for the hackathon is launched and updated accordingly for the next version of hackathon. Moreover, the UAE Hackathon website and system is built with all required features (registration, online challenge creation, online mentorship, online submission, online judge) to help any government organization to run their hackathon fully virtual for free in order to spread the culture of using data for future forecasting and opportunities and enhance the smart lifestyle with innovative projects seeking happiness & wellbeing of individuals.

With the leadership and guidance of TRA, UAE Hackathon got the suitable human and financial support and made different partnerships with many organizations that help the UAE Hackathon to achieve its objectives as following: -Financially: it was fully sponsored by ICTFund, -Human Resources: a team from TRA employees were formed to handle main activities (planning, logistics, marketing, etc) and vender was hired for onsite management, also all partnered entities assigned group of mentors and judges. also, private sector partners offer the required trainings and support for participants. -Hosting location and setup was fully incorporated with Universities in each emirate.

UAE Hackathon is part of the innovative initiatives launched by the TRA as part of its role towards the community and its responsibility to push forward the digital transformation at the federal level. The overall benefits of organizing such initiative is considered much more qualitative then quantitative with spread of knowledge and number of innovative projects gathered. After the success of UAE Hackathon first version number of participants have been increasing and many private sector companies propose their willingness to support the initiative financially and provide sponsorship. The success and increase demand for such initiative would ensure its sustainability.

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UAE Hackathon runs in the UAE Innovation Month (February) in all 7emirates, and establish a big database of individuals who are creative thinkers and innovative. So, partnering with UAE Hackathon give any entity the opportunity to reach more individuals and gather number of innovative ideas for their challenges. On the Federal level the UAE Hackathon is supported by the -Minister of the National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing, -Federal governmental entities participate in the hackathon with their challenges, -FCSA to support the Hackathon with Open data portal (bayanat.ae) On the local level UAE Hackathon partnered with each emirate: -e-Government entity to support the hackathon activities and invite all local government entities to participate with their challenges in the hackathon and encourage their employee to compete in the hackathon, -Universities and colleges to organize the actual hackathon and provide mentorship. High level letters are circulated to the mentioned entities leadership in order to have their full support, an opening and closing ceremony is organized where all partnered entities are invited and awarded. The Hackathon project manager is in direct contact of each partnered entity focal point and ensure the well management and smooth run of the hackathon activities.

Under the support of Minister of the National Program of Happiness and Wellbeing, the UAE Hackathon run under its motto 'Data for Happiness & Wellbeing'. It aims to use data to develop innovative solutions and ideas that contribute to the happiness and well-being of the community. It also aims to engage a significant number of students with participants from other sectors of the society to develop modern solutions based on the analysis of available data. To stage these hackathons, TRA established a PPPP partnership “ People Public Private Partnership” where partners from government organizations, the seven local e-governments: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Umm Al Quwain and also more than 15 federal ministries and local entities, and another partnerships with Academic and educational organizations such as Ministry of education, Khalifa University, American University of Ras Al Khaimah, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah University, Ajman University (Ajman Campus and Fujairah Campus), and Zayed University, also the private sectors played a big role in supporting and providing experts, trainers and mentors to support all hackathon technical sessions and activities. It was a very successful PPPP as number of government and private companies in increasing yearly.

- The first lesson was defining the problems, not the solutions. In the three months leading up to the hackathon, we went in in-depth research and workshops to explore the problems and state the challenges. At the kick-off the hackathon, we presented all the challenges that we gathered and we aimed to solve very clearly. We were able to answer the different questions of the participants in the same time they asked. Without this step, the challenges and the hackathon would have been unguided mess. - The second lesson was providing fresh datasets, APIs, and technological tools. This helped the teams and the participants in their work on developing the ideas and the innovative solutions and also showed the governmental organizations and technology companies the potential of this data, tools, and also the hackathon itself. - The third lesson was to conduct team grouping exercises which helped a lot in managing the crowd. - The fourth lesson was building a digital system to manage and monitor all the operation points in the hackathon. This led participants to effectively consume the time only working on their ideas and helped the hackathon team to manage the hackathon in a great way.